Friday, May 1, 2009

Put Mark Waid in charge of your company and he'll hustle his ass off for you. Not content with simply writing and editing for Boom! Studios, he's out there hitting the pavement and bringing the old dog & pony show to the internets.

The panel opened for questions, and a fan asked about future Disney titles. Mosher responded that in addition to THE INCREDIBLES ongoing series, BOOM! Studios will release MUPPET ROBIN HOOD, MUPPET PEG-LEG, CARS, TOY STORY and MONSTERS INC. Waid noted that writing THE INCREDIBLES has been "the joy of a lifetime" and the next arc features Jack-Jack getting an alien cold which results in a city-wide outbreak of super powers.

When asked what can be done to get more kids into reading comics, Waid responded that it's a matter of accessibility, getting comics into newsstands, drugstores, and convenience stores. Mosher also noted that making the material available digitally contributes to overall accessibility. He added that BOOM! Studios has a half-dozen graphic novels available for free online, and eventually will be digitally distributing comics on the iPhone and Google Android devices.

BOOM! is the most exciting place in comics right now, which sounds like bullshit PR jazzhands, but that's how I see it. We're being pursued by every agency and studio in town and have allied with Fox and Sony and Disney and many others on a wide array of projects--and it's always a great fit because they let us do what we do. Our partners let us produce comic books, not thinly disguised movie pitches in comics form. Everyone in this town who's dealt with us knows I hold a very hard line editorially; you can, as some have, come in with a story idea that is tailor-made for movies or TV, but if it doesn't make a good comic book first and foremost--if it's not visual, if it's not kinetic, if it doesn't take advantage of the medium, and so forth--then we pass, even if it means Andy, Ross and I leave money on the table as a point of integrity.

Plus, we're covering all distribution bases, which few companies are. We're at the vanguard of digital distribution, having been the first to release new issues through stores and on MySpace Comics simultaneously. We just cut a newsstand distribution deal to make sure the Pixar stuff gets into the hands of kids, which is gargantuan. We have a very strong bookstore deal for our trade paperbacks and collected volumes. We've just launched a cub imprint called BOOM! Kids especially for that material, and I cannot believe the hunger for THE INCREDIBLES and THE MUPPET SHOW comics--the first issues sold about 75% more than I would in my wildest dreams ever have projected, and that's the kind of development that gives heat to everything we do.

"Unlike other cons, this is totally geared towards kids and family," Simmons told CBR News. "Some people think I mean ‘Kiddies and Family.' Kids, to me, means anybody under the age of 21. We have teens here, we have tweens - we had a young girl named Jessica who came in 2007 and was just a participant having a good time." Simmons went on to explain that Jessica Weiss, age 12, returned for the second show in 2008, not only as a participant, but as an exhibitor."Her father [contacted me] in January of 2008 just before our other con saying Jessica did her own comic and she wanted to rent a table and sell it. He asked if that would be all right," Simmons explained. "What better place for a kid to sell her own comics than a kids' comic-con? She was here last year and she's back this year with a different issue." The 12-year-old Weiss is the creator and publisher of the comic "Geezerville," and was on hand all day selling copies of her three issues.

Not only is she an accomplished writer and artist, she's a fan of comics as well. "Right now my favorite is LITTLE LULU," said Weiss. "Even now it makes sense even though it's out of date."

The type of enthusiasm and creativity exhibited by Weiss is exactly the atmosphere that Simmons is promoting with Kids' Comic Con. "Some of my friends' careers were actually determined by their comic book passions," he said. "Some of them went into science because they wanted to be Reed Richards. That field spoke to them because of their enthusiasm for those characters."

Oh snap! The Fin Fang Four are back and they brought Doc Samson with them! Dig the preview HERE!

Previews of some new ARCHIE titles are up at their news blog including this:

ARCHIE & FRIENDS #131 "Zero to Rock Hero Part Two":

The video game battle of the bands from the previous issue rages on... but now the event is broadcast on TV! Last issue, The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats challenged one another to the hottest new videogame, Legendary Rock Heroes! Now their competition is a reality show sensation, complete with all the trappings. Can the rockers stay true to their creative roots, or will instant success turn them into an assembly line of pre-fab pop?

It used to be The Archies and Josie & The Pussycats were actual bands. They wrote their own songs, played their own instruments and performed concerts. You know, they were being creative. Now they're aspiring to be celebrities by playing a video game on TV and pretending to be rock stars? Archie Comics continues to hold a mirror to America's youth culture.

I'm pretty sure Kable Distribution Services deals with big box stores, but who knows what the terms of their specific deal is. Archie Publications has had a lot of success with them. So maybe these titles will end up in grocery stores.

re: Fin Fang FoomNEXTWAVE was one of the best comics Marvel published this decade. Foom was icing on the cake.